State-of-the-Art Medical Training Vehicle Makes First Visit to New Jersey

Thursday, October 28, 2004

New Brunswick, NJ – An innovative vehicle developed to educate physicians about new medical devices made its first visit to New Jersey with a stop at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) in New Brunswick. Called SimSuite, this state-of-the-art bus provided training on the use of a new device for the treatment of patients with coronary artery disease.

“Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital is proud to provide this cutting-edge educational tool for our physicians,” said Eileen Algeria, Director of the hospital’s Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory. “As an academic medical center, education is a key element of our mission and we strive to offer the best programs and courses.”

SimSuite is a simulation-based training program designed to demonstrate as well as allow hands-on learning for cardiologists, interventional radiologists, vascular surgeons and critical care specialists. The visit to RWJUH was geared toward interventional cardiologists, or those who specialize in the mechanical treatment of heart diseases.

Boston Scientific’s new FilterWire EZ System was the focus of SimSuite’s visit to the New Brunswick hospital. The cardiologists were instructed on the insertion of the wire and opening of the filter, which will provide greater effectiveness in procedures to unblock arteries. After watching a computerized tutorial, the physicians were given a situation and practiced inserting and removing the filter on a mock patient.

“The best way to learn something is to practice it,” said Abel Moreyra, MD, Medical Director of The Heart Center of New Jersey at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. “Being able to feel the movement of the wire filter immediately after watching the tutorial really showed us how it works, and there wasn’t as much of a time commitment as there can be with traditional courses.”

About Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital

Selected as one of four hospitals nationwide to offer the world's first self-contained implantable artificial heart, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (www.rwjuh.edu) is a 600-bed academic medical center and the principal hospital of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, NJ. Robert Wood Johnson is an innovative leader in advancing state-of-the-art care in medicine. Its Centers of Excellence include cardiovascular care from minimally invasive heart surgery to transplantation, cancer care, and women's and children's care including The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children's Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (www.bmsch.org). The hospital is also a Level 1 Trauma Center and serves as a national resource in its ground-breaking approaches to emergency preparedness.

The hospital has earned significant national recognition for clinical quality and patient safety. Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital is ranked among the top 50 hospitals in the nation for both heart and heart surgery and respiratory disorders, according to U.S.News & World Report's 2008 ranking of "America's Best Hospitals." The American College of Surgeons' Commission on Cancer has rated Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital among the nation's best comprehensive cancer centers. The Leapfrog Group rated Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital as one of the 50 exceptional U.S. hospitals, as published in Consumers Digest magazine. Harvard University researchers, in a study commissioned by The Commonwealth Fund, identified Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital as one of the top 10 hospitals in the nation for clinical quality. Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital is also a recipient of the prestigious Magnet Award for Nursing Excellence for more than 10 consecutive years.

Attention members of the media: For more information on this release, please contact the Department of Public Relations (732) 937-8521.


Top of Page return to top of page